DON’ T QUI T YOUR JOB.
FIR E
YOUR BOSS.
(An Invitation to Unravel
What the World Has
Taught You About
Your Work, Your Career
and Your Future)
Aaron McHugh
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This mission statement is for artists, entrepreneurs,
liberators, innovators, heretics, and, most especially,
for forty-hour-Monday-through-Friday-work-week
employees. This is an invitation to unravel what
the world has taught you about your work, your career,
and your future.
This manifesto is for you if:
1. You want to enjoy going to work each day.
2. You feel confident that your career is too important to approach with apathy.
3. You want to gain greater influence at work.
4. You’re ready to explore new alternatives for finding recognition for your work.
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After reading, you’ll be able to:
1. Establish a unique strategy for firing your boss.
2. Know how to obtain the freedom to offer your best in any job.
3. Understand why quitting your job won’t help you.
I am not telling you how to get rich quick.
I am not selling you some tuition program or training course I have created.
Rather, I’m offering my experience and my story to you purely for your own enrichment and
encouragement. I’m offering my pain, my joy, and my discovery freely in hopes that you, too,
will find a new rhythm for your career.
I love to work. I don’t work because I am a workaholic but because I love the invention and
creativity that happens in my career.
When I fired my boss, my career transitioned to an entirely new plane of enjoyment for me.
You, too, can discover a new way to approach your work.
You, too, can have a brand new job starting tomorrow.
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DON’T QUIT YOUR JOB.
After years of working for the same company, the challenges are largely gone, the original zeal
you felt for your job has plateaued to a tolerable “good enough.” You say to yourself, I bet if
I can get a job over there at company X, I’d be excited again.
Before you push the eject button, think of the hassle of brushing up your resume, looking
for a new job, going through the interviews, evaluating the benefits packages, and comparing
the compensation.
Let’s face it: The biggest gain in changing jobs is that you will restart the clock on a new set
of challenges, a new pairing of relationships, and a new boss.
What if I told you that this is not the answer you are really searching for?
What if you fired your boss instead?
“
You, too, can discover a new way to approach your work.
You, too, can have a brand new job starting tomorrow.
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LET’S START WITH WHAT YOU THINK AND BELIEVE.
The battleground of your thinking is the first place to drive a stake in the ground.
If you believe that your boss, your factory, your pension, or your biggest customer is your
only hope for a prosperous tomorrow, then you will do anything to protect those eggs in
that lone basket.
In an unwritten contract you will resign your will, your opinions, your creativity and your
passion in trade for self-preservation.
The more you feel like a victim who is subject to the whims of the company or the policies
of leadership, the more you feel like a slave to your mortgage payment, the more you will
shrink back and keep signing the unwritten contract.
Two choices will always remain:
1. How will you choose to respond?
2. How will you choose to interpret your experiences?
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You have the power to transform your workplace experience solely based on your interpretations
and reactions. Tomorrow, when you return to your office, you can have a brand new job and
a new arrangement for your future. But only if you are willing to recalibrate what you believe.
Jerry Maguire, and “The Things We Think
and Do Not Say.”
Do you remember watching the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire? Remember Tom Cruise playing the
slick sports agent whose career implodes in a single afternoon?
In the first three minutes of the movie we get the Cliffs Notes of his life. He has spent years
working for the most successful sports management company of his day. He is fierce and suave,
and he is dying inside.
In his words, he had become “another shark in a suit.”
One night, just before his corporate conference, he finds himself at a moral crossroads, a point
of breakthrough. During his wrestling—his epiphany—he does headstands in his hotel room
and unravels what he had previously learned about the world.
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HE STARTS WRITING A MISSION STATEMENT.
He is not merely writing a memo, he realizes, but a mission statement. A suggestion for the
future. In it, he advocates a provocative concept to his coworkers: charge less money, take on
fewer clients, and give more personal attention.
In the next scene we see him running 110 bound copies of his manifesto, title page and all,
and stuffing them one by one into his colleagues’ inboxes.
He calls it “The Things We Think and Do Not Say: The Future of Our Business.”
Jerry Maguire is alive again.
His mission statement makes him famous, but for all the wrong reasons.
His peers smile as they make eye contact from across the conference room while making sure not
to stand close enough to catch the career-suicide bug that they knew had surely infected him.
Soon Jerry is fired and leaves the office with his mission statement in one hand and the goldfish,
his only heretic recruit, in the other.
OK. To be fair, the cute secretary comes with him, as well. She can’t resist a man of principle.
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WHAT DOES JERRY MAGUIRE HAVE TO DO WITH ME?
Everything.
What you are reading now is a mission statement. Not merely a memo, but a suggestion for the
future. You awoke to your in-box stuffed full of my sweat-stained declaration of independence.
This is a manifesto.
A coup d’état.
A sudden illegal overthrow.
I am inviting you to unravel what the world has taught you about your work,
your career, and your future.
I may end up being the lonely guy holding a goldfish with no one following me. But, like Jerry,
I’m willing to run the risk. I’ve lived too long following the rules and expecting the outcome
to match the promises.
It hasn’t worked.
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THE THINGS WE THINK BUT DO NOT SAY
We have been told this:
1. Get a good job.
2. Work hard.
3. Save money in your 401K.
4. Retire at age 65 as a millionaire and travel the world while eating caviar.
We have been told that these four things will make us happy.
That is a lie. Or it is, at least, a distortion of the truth.
“
This is a manifesto. A coup d’état. A sudden illegal
overthrow. I am inviting you to unravel what the world has
taught you about your work, your career, and your future.
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Instead, what if your objectives looked something more like to these?
1. Do work that you believe in.
2. Work with people you want to work with and work for.
3. Save money every month but don’t count on your 401K to be enough to send you
into early retirement as a millionaire.
4. Don’t wait until your retirement years to
• Enjoy life.
• Invest in relationships with your family and friends.
• Pursue your dreams and adventures.
If you’ve ever done a few headstands in the middle of the night wondering,
believing, and dreaming of a better way to work…
let’s roll.
Work is where we spend almost 30% of our lives.
There has to be a better way to work than the way most people choose to.
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CHANGING THE RULES FOREVER
What if you redefined the terms of the unwritten contract to be in your favor? What if what really
troubles you about your boss could be within your control to change? What if starting tomorrow,
you could have a new job experience without changing companies or job duties?
I think I’ve uncovered a few nuggets of gold that may shift the trajectory of your career.
How the hell am I going pull this off?
Fire my boss?
How will I pay my mortgage?
What will my friends think?
FORT Y YE ARS OF HARD L ABOR
In medieval times, indentured servants worked the land of a king for a fixed number of years
until their debt was paid in full. The king owned the field, the crop and the harvest yield.
He got rich, he ate and drank as much as he liked, and the servants learned to live on the
crumbs from his table.
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Kings love servants and minions.
For many people, work can be a place where they feel like indentured servants. It can be a place
where they feel obligated and stuck.
Many companies and leadership teams have this same ancient mentality. They believe that their
employees are lucky to work for them. They believe that each worker is a replaceable cog.
They are looking for compliant workers and employees, under the weight of needing to meet
their own financial obligations, settle in for forty years of hard labor.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Why approach your workday with this kind of obligation?
I WAS AN INDENTURED SERVANT
I realized that I was looking for a partnership, not an obligation. I dreamed of being in a business
arrangement where the company and I were equally investing in each other.
Believe it or not, it is possible. I found that part of the problem was that I was acting like
an indentured servant. In fact, I was training other workers around me to relate to me as a
replaceable cog.
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Once I could name and describe this arrangement I could begin to navigate and craft a new
arrangement. I stopped thinking and acting like an indentured servant and I started being
a skilled craftsman instead.
“
I dreamed of being in a business arrangement where
the company and I were equally investing in each other.
Believe it or not, it is possible.
THE UNWRIT TEN CONTR ACT
Most people sign an unwritten contract every day.
They trade a paycheck for predictability.
Does your arrangement go something like this?
Boss, you give me a predictable every-two-week paycheck, health insurance, projects to work on,
lunch breaks, and a Christmas party, and I’ll give you my will, my dignity, my freedom of choice,
my security, my sleep, and my future plans for my life.
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Like the indentured servant, most employees take on the goals of the crown—the company and
the customers—as their priority instead of their own goals. Creating great products and building
great companies are wonderful ways to invest in a career, but at what expense? Too often the
objectives of the kingdom—the company—become the only mission. What you want, what you
need, or what you value is rarely included in the company’s quarterly objectives.
How frequently have you been asked in your quarterly or annual review?
• How is the company treating you?
• What can the company do for you?
• How can the company help make you a more content, enthusiastic, invigorated,
challenged contributor?
YOU MADE A TR ADE.
The problem is that you have made a trade, an agreement: You work for them and they believe
that their mission—regardless of your feelings about it—should be fulfilling to you.
You will never offer your best if you are constantly editing yourself to keep in
step with the contract you signed.
We can end up yielding so much of our true selves that we subject ourselves to emotional tyranny.
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Isn’t it true that fear is the driving force behind our compliance? If we hold conflicting views with
our company or leadership, if we desire more than what is offered in the trade, we fear the
consequences of standing up for what we desire and believe.
MY COMPLIANCE WAS NOT THEIR FAULT.
I owe this realization to a coworker. We were taking a walk in the parking lot together outside
of our office when he told me, “I get it. I sign a contract and accept the terms of the agreement
every time I cash a paycheck.”
He was right.
I had a business dealing that accurately depicted this type of contract. It was a contractual agreement between three parties that totaled seven figures over five years. One of the parties never
signed the contract, but they cashed the checks each year for their portion of the compensation.
After a few years the attorneys concluded that even though this party never signed the contract,
they were acting according to the contract terms and receiving compensation for doing so.
Therefore, cashing the check was as good as signing the piece of paper.
Cashing the check is as good as signing the contract.
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By cashing my check every two weeks, I was agreeing with the terms of my employment even
though I wasn’t externally condoning or agreeing with those terms.
I had to take ownership of my participation in the dysfunctional system.
I could no longer blame or point fingers.
I had to become a part of the solution or stop cashing the checks.
“
We can end up yielding so much of our true selves that
we subject ourselves to emotional tyranny.
YOUR BOSS DOES NOT HOLD THE VERDICT ON YOU.
Your boss, customers, company, and coworkers should not hold as much influence
on you as they do.
The verdict on your impact, your worth, your genius, and your value is not in their hands.
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Too much energy is consumed with interpreting our leadership’s appreciation and acknowledgement of our contribution.
Do your dinner table conversations with your spouse get chewed up with workplace drama?
• What your boss said
•
•
•
•
What your boss didn’t say
How your boss said it
Why it should have been said
Why it should not have been said
I bet even your spouse is tired of your boss.
Of course, all of us want to be noticed and appreciated for our workplace contributions, but
we often put too heavy a weight on whether or not our boss or company displays appreciation
or gratitude for us in the way we desire.
As a result we can internalize feedback or lack there of as a verdict on our workplace value.
Although feedback is an indicator, it is not a summary.
Here are some things I have learned that have helped me weather long dry spells of negative
feedback or even silence.
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1. Stop doing your work for your boss. Your idea is not good or bad as a result of the feedback you receive. If you believe you have a great idea, a worthy project, or a good decision,
then go for it! Do it because you believe in it and because it is the right thing to do.
2. Assume the best. No news is good news. Start heading down the path you believe you should
follow and assume the best outcome, assume everyone is supportive, and assume you are
going to be successful. If someone in authority has a problem with it, they will tell you so.
3. Consider the source. If you consistently receive negative feedback from the same person(s)
every time, consider that their negativity might be their own personal problem. It took me
a long time to realize that consensus building and democracy is really great most of the time.
Some people will never be supportive or helpful. That is just the way they choose to be, and
that is OK. Don’t let their negativity stop you from doing your own great work.
4. Own your mistakes. If you make a mistake, say so. Own your shortcomings, missteps, bad
judgment calls, etc. Most everyone is appreciative and understanding when you say, “I made
a mistake. I am sorry.”
5. Your boss isn’t getting what he needs either. Yep. Your boss desires the same validation
and acknowledgement that you do. And more than likely if he is not giving it to you, well,
he isn’t getting it from his boss, either.
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RE ALIZING MY BOSS DOES NOT HOLD THE
VERDICT ON ME
This one was a massive tectonic shift for me. Once I realized that my boss didn’t have the verdict
on me, I was free to do my best work regardless of his or her acknowledgement of it.
It was such a relief.
I had spent so many years attempting to gain the appreciation and confidence of my leaders
that I was exhausted.
The truth is, it was like playing a baseball game with one eye on the game and one eye on my
boss in the bleachers. As a result, I was never fully in the game because I was more worried
about whether or not I was being seen for the great plays I was making.
“
Once I realized that my boss didn’t have the verdict
on me, I was free to do my best work regardless of his
or her acknowledgement of it.
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Now I’ve learned to offer my best work every day and get my head into the game instead
of spending so much time wondering what the commentators are saying.
WE’RE GOING TO BE WORKING FOR A WHILE
It was very common for our grandparents to find a good company and hitch their wagon to
it for the next thirty years. In the post-depression and post-WWII era, finding predictable work
was a blessing.
If you were able to work for a company like Ford Motor Company, then you were enrolled in
their retirement pension plan. This golden handcuff tethered you to the company until you
reached retirement age, but your contract was mutually beneficial: the company benefited from
your investment and you benefited from a reliable income source for the rest of your life.
That has all changed.
Imagine that last week you attended your company’s retirement plan meeting. The young
thirty-something presenter showed a chart proclaiming how the stock market boasts a
predictable 30-year average rate of return of 10%.
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For the last 15 years, however, you’ve only experienced down markets. You follow the advertised
best practices, contributing your faithful (x)% every month, but you know that your retirement
plan is not the golden handcuff it once was.
Indeed, the Ford Motor Company’s pension plan model vanished with our grandparents’ generation. And the promise of the stock market producing wild amounts of wealth with which we can
travel the world and eat caviar does not seem to be panning out, either.
The belief that your company’s retirement plan will provide a guaranteed path to financial security
is not anything you should count on. Instead, you should accept that you will be working for
more years than the thirty-something presenter promised in that meeting.
Let’s not feel obligated to stick it out with any one company for our entire career. The good
news is that when the pension plan vanished, employees received greater freedom of choice.
We can make career decisions largely independent of a company retirement plan.
Since most of us won’t end up in early retirement, we should certainly make sure our work
is fulfilling.
You are going to be at it for a while and there is no payoff for hanging on to one
company. You are free to choose where to invest your skills and talents.
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I’M GOING TO BE WORKING FOR A WHILE.
This one was difficult for me. In the early 1990’s there was a new story every week on the
overs of Fast Company, Wired, and Entrepreneur about the latest college kid whose company
was purchased for XX million dollars. I loved how these stories were constant advertisements
for what was possible in our country.
It was true: you could build or create something that could instantly be valued at large
amounts of money. The Internet was really just getting started; anything online was sexier
than brick and mortar.
A coworker and I came up with an idea to unite cubicle dwellers everywhere under one
community website, Cubicleplanet.com. We printed T-shirts, purchased domain names, cut
a radio commercial and called ourselves the Founding Fathers of the Cubicle Nation.
It was going to be cool. You could register your cubicle on the global cubicleplanet.com map
by GPS coordinates and have essentially a Facebook-like page to post your status updates.
We thought we’d be millionaires in no time.
Fifteen years later, I am still working. And most of those college sophomores who received
venture capital investments are working again, as well.
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The nugget of wisdom I learned here is that while big home runs and wild amounts of sudden
wealth do happen, the odds of them happening are generally slim. Instead, the tortoise
approach (long and slow) is likely a more reliable and predictable one than that of the hare
(quick and filled with shortcuts).
I am content to faithfully save money every month and I try not to pay too much attention to
my portfolio performance. Simultaneously, I am always looking for interesting new innovations
that make a compelling business solution.
I don’t have a reliable pension plan and I don’t foresee a huge amount of money falling from the
sky any time soon, so I’ve settled into the idea that I’m going to be working for a while.
All the more reason to make sure I am enjoying what I am doing.
HOPE IN SOMETHING BET TER
Yeah, I know, another Hollywood movie reference. But I think you will really appreciate this story.
Do you remember the Stephen King novella-turned-movie Shawshank Redemption? In it, Andy
Dufresne, played by Tim Robbins, is wrongfully accused of the murder of his wife and is
incarcerated for two life sentences. Red, played by Morgan Freeman, is the insider-turned-ally
that helps Andy navigate the inner-workings of prison.
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Weaving throughout the story is the sustaining power of hope. In one of my favorite scenes,
Red cautions Andy “hope can drive a man insane.” Andy’s brilliant rebuttal is that hope is
“the best of things.” As part of Red’s investment in Andy’s survival, he arranges to trade for a
poster of Rita Hayworth and Andy hangs the symbolic gift on the wall of his prison cell.
We later discover that the Hollywood-hottie poster covers the hole where Andy has been digging
through the concrete wall every night, planning for his escape. Each morning, he discards
the progress of his work through the holes in his trouser pockets as he walks the yard with
the other inmates.
Bit by bit the concrete fragments of the wall are dismantled and distributed into the prison yard.
Freedom does not come for Andy in an instant; rather, it comes over years of him choosing
to pursue the hope of something better for himself.
Like Andy, we are digging out.
Hold on to the hope that there is more available for you.
A year ago, I hung a large, framed picture of Andy Dufresne and Red in my office at work.
Each man is in his prison jumpsuit with his prison ID embroidered across his chest.
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I hung it as a reminder to me of three things:
1. Hope is a dangerous thing and maybe the best of things.
2. Freedom is a choice.
3. Digging out takes time and a vision for something better.
MY HOPE IN SOMETHING BET TER
I love symbols.
They help orient me to deeper truths and stories than I could otherwise easily forget.
This poster was exactly that symbol. It was a symbol of change.
It was a symbol of a shift in the posture of my heart.
“
Like Andy, we are digging out.
Hold on to the hope that there is more available for you.
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I have to imagine that Andy Dufresne’s years in Shawshank were less difficult than they would
have been because he knew that each day he made a little progress in redefining the
hold the place had on him.
The honest truth is that I have worked in some really difficult work environments. I will spare
you the stories, but I can promise you that symbols like Red and Andy helped offer me hope
in a very needed way.
You would think that most work places would not tolerate an employee hanging a poster
of two inmates in his office; nobody even noticed.
But when I looked at it, I knew I was digging out.
DEPEND ON YOURSELF
Starting today, you will envision, strategize, and plan how you will begin providing for yourself.
Imagine a life in which you rely on yourself. A life in which you live into your best reality—
your best self.
You do not need to be an entrepreneur to depend on yourself. You can still have a regular W-2 job
with full-time benefits and maintain the belief that your future is under your own leadership.
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So often we transfer the direction of our futures onto our company or our boss. I am suggesting
that you hire yourself for the role of Director of Success and Happiness. By holding yourself
accountable for your own future, you will experience a much greater level of responsibility as
well as greater satisfaction in the outcome.
Repeat after me:
• I am the Director of Success and Happiness of my life.
• I am the CEO of My Life, Inc.
• I am the chairman of the board for my future.
I hope it is clear that I am not telling you to pour hot coffee in your boss’s lap on Monday as
you waive the bird on your way out the door.
Rather, I am advocating for a massive shift in the core of your belief system.
You must understand: your career disappointments, your failures, and your missed promotions
are not “their” fault.
You let them happen.
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Of course they have a part to play in your story, but ultimately, you are responsible for your own
successes and your failures. Let’s not shift blame around. Let’s understand the leadership we
have in our own life. We permitted our companies to have this access to us. We have even invited
it by the way we have adhered to the unwritten contract.
Starting today, take responsibility for your future success.
LE ARNING TO DEPEND ON MYSELF
This one may sound like a self-help book or some mental trick but it is not. It is true. I have
spent too many years deferring responsibility to other people for my happiness or motivation.
And guess how many of those years I was disappointed in the outcome? Yep, most of them.
“
You must understand: your career disappointments, your
failures, and your missed promotions are not “their” fault.
You let them happen.
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For too many years I believed that I needed my boss or company to provide me great opportunities, great projects, promotions, etc. Without those invitations or advancements, I would sulk
in my lack of fulfillment.
When I made the shift to truly take ownership of my life, my happiness, my circumstances,
my fulfillment, my creativity, my time, (and the list keeps going), I stopped feeling helpless.
My influence over my own life was liberating.
An employee told me once in his annual review that he really wanted to move to a new position,
but I knew he had very little qualifications to be considered for that position.
I suggested that he consider doing the job he wished he had in his spare time. I suggested
that he could use his evenings and weekends to start doing specific projects and that both he
and the company would benefit.
He would have the opportunity to start doing some cool work that he was excited about,
and the company would benefit as he provided a value without increasing payroll expenses
or pressure for the work to be perfect.
Everyone was a winner.
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In my experience most people are not interested in actually changing their circumstances
because it may cost them something, though because you are reading this I assume you are
not like most people.
Start doing the job you wish you had. You’ll be surprised how happy everyone will be.
“
When I made the shift to truly take ownership of my life,
my happiness, my circumstances, my fulfillment, my creativity,
my time, (and the list keeps going), I stopped feeling helpless.
STOP WAITING TO LIVE THE LIFE YOU DESIRE
No one is going to give you permission. No one is going to send you an invitation saying,
Hey, you know that great thing you’ve been contemplating? You should go ahead and start it.
We all wish that invitation would come, but for most of us it does not.
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You have all the permission you need right now.
We often tell ourselves:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
I’ll start it
Risk it
Create it
Build it
Dream it
Plan it
Design it
After
•
•
•
•
•
I have enough time
I have enough money.
When I am older or If I were younger
When life slows down
When things get back to normal
I have news for you: those days will never come.
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Or at least there will not be enough of them in a row for you to feel like the time is perfect.
Remind yourself that life is short and precious and living the life you desire starts today.
HOW I STOPPED WAITING TO
LIVE THE LIFE I WANTED
This one is one of my favorites. I am a runner and a triathlete. I’ve not missed more than
two weeks without running in almost twenty years. The only reason I went that long was that
I had surgery two different times.
A lot of people say they want to be runners, but what they really are saying is that they want
to look and feel like a runner.
I’ll let you in on a secret.
Even runners battle it out:
“I really need to get in a run today, but I’ll have to get up early, stay up late, eat less, sleep less,
talk less, watch less. I’ll run when it gets warmer or when it gets lighter.”
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But by some miracle, they choose to quiet the voice that offers all of those excuses and get
their run in anyway.
The truth is, all of our lists of excuses are really just us choosing something we feel is easier,
safer, or more comfortable.
It’s easier to say
• There are plenty of better athletes than me.
• There are plenty of more creative people than me.
• There are plenty of more successful people than me.
But I propose to be who I am and I work faithfully not to delay the life I want to live.
Find a way to piece together the small fragments of your day to invest in the things you long for.
It is the only way you will ever actually have the life, career, relationships and health that you
dream about.
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LET’S DO AN E XERCISE
Check each box that you agree with.
o You’ve lived under an unwritten contract that makes you feel helpless and frustrated.
o Your plan was to wait out the next forty years until you can start living the life you really want.
o Based on the current performance of your retirement savings plan, you are going to be
working for a long time.
o You have been waiting on other people to give you permission to do great work.
o Your boss really isn’t the biggest part of your problem.
Now You Are Going To Fire Your Boss.
HOW DO I START ?
Start with your mirror at home.
Yep. Look yourself in the eyes and picture your boss.
Now, fire him or her.
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Repeat after me:
(Insert boss’s name), you are no longer responsible for my future.
You no longer have the verdict on the value of my workplace contribution.
You are not responsible for inspiring me or motivating me.
You’re fired.
KEEP GOING!
Keep looking in the mirror, and fire your company.
Fire your team.
Fire your employees.
Fire your customers.
“
I propose to be who I am and I work faithfully
not to delay the life I want to live.
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AND THEN SAY THIS:
Starting today:
• I will stop thinking like an indentured servant.
• I will stop cashing my paychecks if I disagree with the arrangement.
• I will choose to invest my passion and heart at work.
• I will contribute to improving my workplace.
• I will silently start doing the job I wish I had.
• I will stop waiting on other’s permission or blessing to offer my ideas.
NOW WE ARE FREE.
You are free to hope in something better.
You are in the driver’s seat of your future.
Your skills, talents, experiences and creativity, powered by passion, are your insurance
for a great future.
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HOW I FIRED MY BOSS
I did this.
Yes, I actually fired my boss from all the responsibilities I was holding him to that were not his
to carry. The poor guy didn’t even know what I was obligating him to.
What a disaster my old way was.
If I had actually said out loud what I desired or was supposedly needing from him, I would have
been the one being fired.
Luckily, I never said it out loud.
Instead, I liberated us both on the same day.
• We both became free to operate under a new arrangement.
• I was no longer the indentured servant and no longer resented him for it.
• I was no longer signing the unwritten contract and being frustrated about my compliance with it.
• He no longer had to listen to my speeches about how he should change the way things were.
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• I was no longer watching my 401K performance and being frustrated that I was not going to
be able to retire early like those magazine covers advertised I would.
• I no longer worried about whether or not I got a pat on the back and I wasn’t waiting around
for his permission to start creating and innovating.
THE RESULT
He loved what I started offering, the leadership I started providing, and, ironically, he was more
appreciative of me. In the end, we ended up in a partnership arrangement.
I had a new job and I didn’t have to quit my job to get it.
GUESS WHAT ?
He never knew what changed.
Wait until he reads this and finds out that…
I fired him.
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YOUR MISSION STATEMENT
Let’s circle back to Jerry Maguire. We left him with his goldfish, his mission statement, and the
receptionist. I believe that Jerry’s story gives us a backdrop for our own lives. Jerry risked a great
deal when he published “The Things We Think and Do Not Say,” and his life was reinvigorated.
He found a new path. It was not the one that was well-trodden but rather the one less-traveled.
“
You are in the driver’s seat of your future.
Your skills, talents, experiences and creativity, powered
by passion, are your insurance for a great future.
My hope is that the mission statement you are reading gives you permission to walk down the
less-traveled path. I invite you to do your best work, pursue happiness despite circumstances,
and take back the ownership of your future.
I don’t believe that a person needs to be an entrepreneur in order to experience this kind
of liberation and freedom. In fact, for a lot of people the risks of entrepreneurship would
outweigh the rewards.
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But everyone needs the liberation, freedom and confidence that firing his or her boss
will produce.
You really are more powerful than you know.
Go find that mirror and get started.
AFTER YOU FIRE YOUR BOSS, HERE ARE 10 PR ACTICAL STEPS TO BEGIN PLOT TING YOUR OWN COURSE.
1. You have to be willing to put in the hours.
6. Stop worrying about if no one likes what you create.
2. Start treating your work as art.
7. You already own your own factory.
3. Create your own personal board of advisers.
8. Start reshaping your own thinking.
4. Create your own personal business cards.
9. Start doing the job you wish you had today.
5. Start working on your next thing in your garage.
10. Act like a pro eight minutes at a time.
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Info
ABOUT THE AUTHOR | As a graduate of Baylor University, Aaron holds a B.A. in Speech Communica-
tions. In 1994, he started his career in Sales & Marketing. Recently he resigned from a software division
that he helped start. He is happily married for 19 years and has three children. Aaron is passionate
about work-life balance. He is as driven in business as he is in his athletic adventures as a competitive
runner, triathlete, fly fisherman and mountaineer. For more information, you can visit his blog where
he offers both blog writings and Podcasts on Work, Life and Play.
➔ SEND THIS | Pass along a copy of this manifesto to others.
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This document was created on December 18, 2013 and is based on the best information available at that time.
The copyright of this work belongs to the author, who is solely responsible for the content. This work is licensed
under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License. To view a copy of this license, visit
Creative Commons or send a letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
Cover image from Veer. You are given the unlimited right to print this manifesto and to distribute it electronically
(via email, your website, or any other means). You can print out pages and put them in your favorite coffee shop’s
windows or your doctor’s waiting room. You can transcribe the author’s words onto the sidewalk, or you can hand out
copies to everyone you meet. You may not alter this manifesto in any way, though, and you may not charge for it.
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